The attacks in Paris amounted to the boldest coordinated assault claimed by the Islamic State against a Western country, and showed how the radical militant group has expanded from its beginnings as a Sunni terrorist group in Iraq.

The Islamic State controls territory in Iraq and Syria but has increasingly sought to export its terror activities around the world. The group has affiliates and sympathizers in Libya, Yemen, Afghanistan, Egypt, Nigeria and elsewhere. In recent weeks it appears to have struck on three continents, killing hundreds of people.

A look at some of the most recent attacks claimed by the Islamic State or an affiliate and their motives, based on statements from the group and observations by experts:

Nov. 13, Paris

A series of coordinated attacks on civilian targets, including the national stadium and a concert hall, kill 129 people and wound more than 300.

Motive: Traumatizing Paris, which the Islamic State has called a “capital of prostitution and obscenity.” The group recruited from a large and disaffected Muslim population in France, which is part of the international coalition bombing Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq.

Nov. 13, Baghdad

A suicide blast and a roadside bombing kill 26 people and wound dozens. The suicide bomber strikes a memorial service for a Shiite fighter.

Motive: Targeting Shiites whom the group considers apostates. Since ISIS’s emergence in Iraq, attacks in and around Baghdad have occurred regularly.

Motive: Killing Shiite Muslims in Lebanon, which borders Syria and is home to many Syrian refugees. The attack also targeted Hezbollah, the Shiite militant organization that backs the Syrian government in that country’s civil war.

Nov. 4, El Arish, Egypt

A truck filled with explosives kills four officers near a police club and wounds at least five civilians.

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Members of the Egyptian military near debris from a Russian jetliner that crashed on Oct. 31, killing all 224 people aboard.CreditMaxim Grigoriev/Russian Emergency Ministry, via European Pressphoto Agency

Motive: Retaliation by the Sinai affiliate of the Islamic State for what it called government arrests of women from Sinai.

Motive: While the Islamic State claimed responsibility, it gave no reason. Bangladesh’s government, which has cracked down on militant Islamists, denied that the group was responsible.

Oct. 31, Sinai, Egypt

A Russian jetliner crashes moments after departing the resort of Sharm el Sheik, killing all 224 people aboard. The Islamic State’s Sinai affiliate claims responsibility, and Russia later confirmed a bomb was the cause of the crash.

Motive: Retribution for Russia’s expanded military intervention in Syria, which has targeted militant groups including the Islamic State.

Bombings kill more than 100 at a peace rally attended by Kurdish separatists and Turkish leftists.

Motive: Retribution for efforts by Turkey and Kurdish separatists, despite their own enmity, to unite in fighting the Islamic State.

Oct. 6, Sana and Aden, Yemen

Attacks kill at least 25 people. In Aden, bombs target a hotel housing members of Yemen’s government and a headquarters for troops from the Persian Gulf who are fighting the Houthi insurgency. In Sana, a bomb explodes in a mosque.